A Busy Fall for Everyone at Forests Canada

At Forests Canada, we have always said that we do more than simply plant trees. We grow healthy, resilient forests and grasslands, we connect communities, and we educate and inspire youth. We are very proud of the work we do as it is part of what makes us unique, but what does it actually mean in practice? Well, this list will give you an idea of just how busy we were across Ontario and throughout Canada.

This fall, we:

• Lead our Site Plan Development course for our planting partners in Ontario, ensuring that they are equipped to deliver high-quality planting projects.
• Co-hosted the annual Forest Health Review in Barrie, Ontario, with the Invasive Species Centre, Ministry of Natural Resources, and Natural Resources Canada to support our network in getting the most up-to-date information on key health issues facing our forests.
• Hosted three fall tours in Ontario with over 50 planting partners to see new practices, network, and discuss challenges faced in the field.

• Visited and checked in with our fall planting sites including with RePlant in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Community Forests Canada in Nova Scotia and AWES in Alberta.
• Hosted the Community Forest Managers and Tree By-Law Officers Annual General Meeting in York Region, where over 40 forest professionals celebrated 100 years of the York Regional Forest and saw firsthand forest management practices to implement in their own regions.
• Co-hosted the Ontario Tree Marking Course in Huntsville, Ontario with the Canadian Institute of Forestry, training over 30 new tree markers and building important forest management skills for the next generation.
• Collected 15 million seeds to support our ongoing forest restoration efforts and attended Stock Viewing Days at both Somerville Nurseries and Ferguson Nurseries.
• Supported mentorship efforts in seed, connecting those with decades of knowledge with new emerging leaders.
• Completed our fifth Take Root event in Guelph, helping to hand out 500 native trees to residents of the City of Guelph.
• Presented and participated at the Atlantic Nursery Conference, where we met new planting and nursery partners, heard from the Canadian Tree Nursery Association, and toured nursery operations in Prince Edward Island.
• Participated in numerous education conferences, including the Ontario Association of Geography and Environmental Educators, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education / Toronto District School Board Ecoschools events – inspiring teachers to bring forests into the classroom.

• Connected nine classrooms across Ontario with forestry professionals through the Forestry in the Classroom program reaching over 300 students.
• Supported and enabled a local forestry tour for 30 youth in the County of Renfrew to inspire them to explore opportunities in the forest sector.
• Led a virtual discussion around career opportunities as part of our SEED (Student-Employer Engagement Day) program connecting with 60 youth across Ontario.
• Kicked off the 10th York Region Tree Bee competition with 400 students signing up to grow and showcase their tree identification and forest knowledge.
• Led a compass/map reading Specialist High Skills Major certification workshop with the Career Education Council for schools in the Grand River School Board.
• Attended Launch 2024, a virtual career education fair for high school students from three different school boards in Ottawa and Peel Region.
• Participated in STAO (Science Teachers Association of Ontario) Ignites 2024, an event designed for secondary school educators in their first five years of teaching or new to science teaching that aimed to empower novice science and STEM teachers with the latest innovations and pedagogical practices.
• Visited a planting site Forests Canada supported earlier this year at the University of British Columbia's renowned Malcolm Knapp Research Forest.

• Partnered with the Invasive Species Centre to lead a Community Science webinar for the Ontario Envirothon program for 44 attendees.
• Hosted a restoration community event to bring community members together, heal the land and the relationship with the land with Georgian Bay Metis Council at Wye Marsh.
• Presented at TimberFever in Toronto, hosted by Moses Structural Engineers, where we shared the story of forest management with architect students.
• Participated at the Latornell Conservation Symposium as part of the Women in Conservation panel alongside Angela Coleman with Conservation Ontario, Chandra Sharma with Conservation Halton, Alison Howson with Ontario Land Trust Alliance, and Marie-Paule Godin with Ducks Unlimited Canada.
• Met with the Ontario Biodiversity Council at The Toronto Zoo to prepare for the 2025 Ontario Biodiversity Summit.

• Joined a panel at the Toronto Global Forum alongside McCain Foods, Farm Credit Canada, and Bird Construction Co. to discuss the future of sustainability.
• Attended numerous conferences, including the Canadian Urban Forest Network conference (hosted by Tree Canada) in Winnipeg, The Partnership Conference in Toronto, the Canadian Institute of Forestry Conference in Newfoundland, the Wildfire Conference in New Brunswick, and The Honorable Harvest: Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainability in London, Ontario.
• Joined the Forests Products Association of Canada employment roundtable to discuss labour shortages in the forestry sector.

All that and we are not even into winter yet! If you’d like to stay up to speed on everything Forests Canada does, please follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and BlueSky.